IRAN SO FAR AWAY

According to the stats for my blog, someone recently viewed my blog from Tehran in the Muslim Republic of Iran.

I can't help but worry that they read my little blog postings (here and here) and have now sent a bunch of hairy, women-hating Ninjas for Islam to beautiful Hyde Park to drive me into the sea.

My blog is not well read in South America, and Africa, well, they have other things to occupy them right now. (Though I am HUGE in Djabuti!) But someone in Iran is keeping track of me.

FINISHED OBJECT

I just finished an object. The Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. It was a pleasant knit. I learned a lot. I go over my fear of grafting the end border lace. I think I did an ok job of it. I knitted it from Skacel's Merino Lace in Aubergine. It is really the most incredible color. Just fabulous. And I think it may have been my best piece of lacework to date.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures of it before I sent it away. I could have stalled mailing it another day or two, but in my heart I just couldn't wait. It is going to a wonderful person who deserves it greatly. I'm not saying who. But I had spent these weeks knitting it and thinking about her and praying for her -- I like to use knitting as a prayerful activity -- and wishing for good things for her. I didn't want to wait a minute longer than I had to to send my prayers to her.

I did ask her to take a couple of pics for me, when she has a chance, and I will post them when I get them.

I have already cast on my next project. I mentioned that I had overcome my fear of grafting the end lace panel. That said, I have cast on for the Triinu scarf, which uses a provisional cast on so the end lace edge can be knit onto live stitches.

Well, Poop!

I got the brochure in the mail today for Stitches Midwest. Galina Khmeleva is teaching a 6-hour introductory class on Orenburg lace, and Joan Schrouder is teaching a 6-hour class on Shetland shawls.

So why the poppy outlook? Because $285 is too dear a price -- at least in a year when we are also paying for a bar mitzvah. (For my non-Jewish readers, this is, roughly, the same as paying for a wedding reception for 200 guests...and then another afterward for another 100.)

Speaking of the bar mitzvah, I've been thinking of knitting a lace shawl for Myfanwe to wear on the bimmah. It is the practice in our shul that women cover their head out of respect when on the bimmah. Myfanwe doesn't like the little doilies the shul has for women, and I suggested a shawl similar in size and shape to those worn by Muslim women...only out of fine lace. So now I have to figure out what pattern I should use. Any suggestions?

OFFICIAL Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

I can't wait. I just can't wait. How long til July 17th?

Unfortunately, the trailer shows less knitwear than previous trailers.

And I know this video is a little repetative, but the earlier one was taken down.

STOP THE PRESSES!

CHANGE OF PLANS!

I have changed my mind. I decided I don't like nupps enough to knit the Madli Shawl. At least not this month. So I cast on the Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf instead. (It's for someone special, but I'm not going to say whom that might be.) I'm knitting it in a lovely augergine colored merino.

While looking for a picture of the scarf on the interwebs, I happened upon Miss Alice Faye's recently completed project. The picture is hers.

If you haven't heard of Miss Alice Faye, please, please, please stop by her blog and look through it. She is an amazingly talented knitter. Her lace is the standard by which all other lace should be judged. I am in awe of her. I kind of have a knitters crush on her. If I were to run into her at a fiber event I'd probably stutter and stammer and blurt out words that don't string together. She's a Sorceress.

CLOSER

I am on row 28 of the final 32 rows of the Lilac Leaf Shawl. It has been such a pleasure to knit.

So regardless of how bad work is tomorrow, I know I can finish 4 rows and put this baby aside until the weekend, when I can set aside a block of time to kitchener the two pieces together.

Something nice happened to me today. I entered my name for a chance to win an iPod Touch from a vendor who offered it as a way to get people to come look at their software.

I won!

I don't have it yet -- the vendor will bring it to me next Wednesday -- which gives me time to figure out what exactly an iPod Touch does. (I love my video iPod. Do you think I will like this?)

UPDATE

I am only 28 rows from completing the Lilac Leaf Shawl. Even though this week looks to be really crappy with late nights at work, I am certain I can have the knitting finished by Wednesday.

Then comes the hard -- and stressful -- part. I have to graft the shawl and the end lace trim together using the Kitchener stitch. I'm really nervous.

28 rows.

I'm ahead of schedule!

I'm thinking about Madli's Shawl in Aubergine for the next project. What do you think?

Any Suggestions?

The Lovely Myfanwe, Norbert and I usually take a vacation in August. We put back a little bit every month and, every other year, we take an "off budget" vacation paid for out of the vacation account. On the alternate years we tend to do something a little more restrained -- say 5 days at a friend's house in Michigan -- that can be paid for "on budget".

Last year we took an "off budget vacation" which, through frugality and good planning, we managed to pay for "on budget". So instead of $2,400 to spend on a vacation this year, we already have $3,600. With our usual frugality and good planning, we can have a good bit of fun with this budget.

If my bonus had been more like last years, I had wanted to supplement our savings and spend a week in Ireland. But this years bonus was NOT like last years -- I'm not complaining...I'm happy, happy, happy to have a job -- so I don't think Ireland is going to be in the offing.

But I don't know where to go!

We all like places steeped in history. We like seafood. We like to walk a lot. We like bakeries. We like museums. We like to eat. We like to take leisurely bike rides. And we like ice cream. Our recent vacations have included Boston, Baltimore, New York, Washington D.C., and New Orleans.

Norbert has complicated things by making life goals. "Before he dies" he wants to do the following things:

1. Go to a foreign country. Preferably one where they speak a different language.
2. See a whale in the ocean.
3. Ride an elephant.

Does anyone happen to know of somewhere we could go the 3rd week of August where we can see a whale or ride an elephant? If we can do that in the company of people speaking a language other than English, I think I might plotz!

Or is there somewhere else that you suggest? I've never been particularly drawn to the American Southwest, not the Northwest, for that matter, though I think I might like the Pacific Northwest far more than, say, San Diego. (I am not a hot-weather animal!) I love New York and would love to go back, but wonder if that's a surrendering to indecision.

Please advise.

HARRY POTTER and the Half Blood Prince - NEW Trailer!

MO' PROGRESS

My pair of 7", size 4, stilletto-tipped, bell-capped Signature Arts needles have arrived.

There is nothing more tortuous that having a super-duper, extra-special, pretty, shiny, new toy and not being able to play with it.

But I have to finish the Lilac Leaf shawl first. Then, and only then, I can start a new project.

I am placing lifelines on the first row of every repeat now, so that eve if I drop a lace stitch, I only have to rip back so far and can only be set back one day. It's really, really busy at work right now, and I'm working late most nights, so I'm getting up early and staying up late to squeeze in some knitting time. If I knit 15 rows a day, I can finish the center panel in 7 days. Then I'll need at least a week to finish the lace border for the end, and then I'm going to need to find someone to give me the courage to Kitchener stitch them together. I'm already nervous. And THEN I will still need to block it. Which I think I can get done before April 29th.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but this is another prayer shawl. My boss, of whom I am quite fond and to whom I feel great loyalty, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have surgery on the 30th. I am making this shawl a prayerful experience, and I plan to give it to his wife before the surgery. It may sound weird, but I'm the kind of person who, in the absence of a positive way to focus my nervous energy, will give life to all kinds of horrible uglies.

Knitting and praying for health, happiness, and grandchildren seems far more positive and productive.